The Tennessee Volunteers ran into a buzzsaw on Saturday night, falling to the Kentucky Wildcats 4-1 on Saturday evening at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Kentucky pitcher Nic McCay shut down the Vols’ bats in a big way, throwing 7.2 innings with no earned runs on 2 hits and 3 walks to go with 12 strikeouts. Tennessee simply had no answer for the righty, who stifled Tennessee from the start with two strikeouts in the first inning to strand two base runners. That would prove to be one of the last times that Tennessee had a chance to do something offensively.
On the other hand, Vols starter Marcus Phillips had a solid outing, albeit a laborious one. He went 5 innings on 98 pitches, allowing 2 runs (none earned) on 5 hits and 4 walks with 8 strikeouts.
However, trouble came in the sixth after his departure. Kentucky led off the inning with two singles followed by a steal and a hit batter to load the bases. A deep grounder to the right side brought home a run, and a sac fly brought home a fourth run. That would be more than enough to carry the day for the Wildcats.
The Vols got their lone run in the eighth inning when Hunter Ensley notched an RBI single to bring Dalton Bargo to the plate as the game-tying run. However, a groundout ended the inning and effectively the game for Tennessee, who would go one-two-three in the ninth.
The rubber match gets set on Sunday at 1 pm ET, with UT’s Tegan Kuhns squaring off against UK’s Ben Cleaver.